happy birthday to me!

A quarter of a century. I can't believe it! (My goal is 93 years)

It was a wonderful day for a birthday, although I have no real plans besides finishing some work for classes. I was surprised at work today when one of the teachers told me I had a package from one of the students I worked with last semester, who is now back in Korea. I was not expecting it, and toted around the box all day, and when I got home, I found this:

I LOVE wind chimes! I don't remember if I even mentioned to her anything about them, but it was a perfect birthday present, along with all of this:

Luckily, there were a few other gifts for some of the teachers, and we can all munch on the sweets together. How very thoughtful of her! 

I remember when I was much younger, my mother gave my sister and me each a decorative ceramic cup with our birth months on them. For some reason I was disappointed because my March cup showed a little girl stomping around in a mud puddle on a rainy day. It always seemed so gloomy to me, but since then I've come to really love spring time and I'm now content with being born in this season!

I see all the tulips and daffodils on campus, or the grass growing tall in the soccer fields and automatically my mind jumps to thinking about how much a horse would enjoy that nice clump of thick grass. Not to mention, once the thunderstorms start, you can look forward to much warmer weather and the amazing sights of the clouds (and perhaps an occasional tornado).